Laughing dog sound calms shelter dogs according to a study conducted at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service in Washington state. "What we found is that it had a calming or soothing effect on.jpg)
the dogs," said Patricia Simonet, an animal behaviorist in Spokane who has studied everything from hamster culture to elephant self-recognition. "Now, we actually really weren't expecting that," reported abcnews.go.com.
Playing the sound (Listen here) at the shelter over a loudspeaker caused the mixture of barking, nervous dogs to calm down and quickly quiet down. When a similar sound of a dog panting was played, there was no effect. However, all 15 dogs in the shelter stopped, listened and “went quiet in about a minute,” according to ABCnews. Officials say it works every time, and researchers across the country are taking note.
Image courtesy of AnimalShelter.org
"The laughing sound that they make is something that was not even considered a vocalization until this study was done," Simonet said. Dogs certainly agree that it is a calming sound.
Simonet noticed that her own dogs made this particular sound only during play, as opposed to barks, growls and whimpers that are made during play and at other times. She focused on that particular sound and saw that her dogs were in a very stress-free, relaxed state whenever they made that particular sound. She made a recording of them and brought it to a location where she could test the affect on a larger group of dogs.
Nancy Hill at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service (SCRAPS) in Washington served as that “large population” Simonet tested during her research. With the help of director Nancy Hill, she played recordings of the dog laughter sound to the stressed-out pooches in the kennels. “We were hoping to see a reduction in stress-related behaviors, like lunging and barking and tail-chasing and biting the cage,” says Simonet.
They got more than they’d expected. The dogs not only exhibited reductions in those behaviors; they also became much quieter. “We were surprised by the absolute quiet and calm,” says Simonet, who says the change was so dramatic it was a bit unnerving.
Hill and Simonet have begun selling a CD of the recording to other shelters so they can have the same calming effect. It helps the shelter dogs to be less stressful and in turn, that’s helps when potential adoption visitors come in to see the dogs.
Through www.laughing-dog.org, Simonet is selling a CD of the sound of dog laughter. It costs $19.95 plus shipping. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service.
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